Here’s How To Shift The Focus From Salary To Career

Health IT jobs are in higher demand than ever — and everyone knows it. This means your valuable compensation package could be less than or equal to another offer. Quality employees know the opportunities they have based on salary and benefits, but what are they being offered beyond that?

Our 2016 Health IT Salary Report found that the majority of employees are satisfied with their current jobs. The surprise is: money wasn’t listed as their primary reason for workplace satisfaction.

Here’s a look into what is keeping current health IT employees satisfied and how you can attract and retain high quality employees:

Meaningful work

Today’s workforce is looking to make a difference in the world — not just bring home a paycheck. Find out what your current employees find most meaningful about their jobs, but don’t wait until your next interview to showcase their answers.

Job candidates can find almost anything out about your company before they even hit ‘send’ on the application. According to our salary report, 76 percent of candidates conduct their own job research across multiple channels prior to applying.

Ask your employees and clients to post their own personal stories on your website and social media. Let employees show how they’re making a direct, positive impact to your clients, and then allow clients to share how their lives have changed thanks to your company. Use these personal accounts in job posts, interviews, and when networking to hit health IT candidates’ soft spots.

The day to day

Bored employees end up disengaged, unmotivated, and unhappy with their jobs — health IT pros are especially known for this. It’s the fast pace of this job that they cited as their top reason for job satisfaction. So, any sight of boredom or feeling like they’re of low importance, and they’ll be moving on.

In most cases, job descriptions are the first line of contact you’ll have with a candidate — and you definitely can’t slack on the information you put in them. The 2015 Talent Board North American Candidate Experience Research Report found job descriptions are the most important job-related content that candidates look for when researching a job.

Use the job post to show how much excitement, employee involvement, and the overall significance the position holds with the company. Giving the full details will show candidates this job won’t leave them bored and looking for new employment in a few months.

Learning and career growth

You likely already have quality health IT pros at your company, which means you know they love learning and growing. In fact, they rated the opportunity to learn new skills as one of the top reasons for current job satisfaction in our survey.

Technology isn’t going anywhere. It’s important for candidates to know, if hired, they won’t be either. Let them know this is a career not just a job, where they’ll have room to continue evolving through educational opportunities that keep them on top of changing trends.

During interviews, discuss what learning opportunities the company provides for employees. Keep the company’s advancement track transparent, allowing them to see all of the possibilities their future could hold if hired.

Be open about pay

While the application process shouldn’t be focused on pay, we’d be delusional to say it isn’t of high importance. Even if your competitors are offering more, the 2015 Compensation Best Practices Report of 71,000 employees by PayScale found it won’t ruin your chances of attracting happy employees.

When employers paid lower than the industry standard, but communicated with their staff about the reasons, 82 percent of employees were still satisfied with their work. Yet, employees who were overpaid and didn’t have a conversation about their pay with their employers were less likely to be satisfied.

Keeping the conversation open and honest about salary makes it less of a big deal. This gives candidates the final piece of the puzzle to put all of the information together, allowing them to make the best decision for themselves and the company.

How do you shift your candidates’ focus away from salary and put it back on career? Let us know in the comments below!